National Public Radio recently interviewed me on the Chinese government’s interests in promoting a domestic wind industry. The piece, run by the talented Scott Tong out of the Marketplace’s Shanghai bureau, is called, “Wind farms change the air in China.” I admit I got a bit woolly when I said:

“We may see wind turbines off the coast of Saudi Arabia, or off of Vietnam, off the Ivory Coast. Because the Chinese were able to bring the technology down to a cost level that these developing economies could afford.”

Wish I could have taken out the Saudi Arabia bit; after all, they won’t be running out of oil for another fifty years.

Still, I was able to make a couple other good points, which did not make it into the piece; like, the Chinese government is requiring that domestically made wind turbines have 70% domestic content. Now, since domestic makers like the National Railroad Company do not do a good job at making such components, international components makers from Denmark and Germany mostly are making their way in-country.

However, the international players do not seem to realize that very shortly not only will domestic Chinese manufacturers learn how to make the same components, but the Chinese will more quickly customize the sets for Chinese geographies and economies, and will produce competing parts at half or less the cost – and perhaps half or less the lifetime.